Vegan working in non-vegan restaurant

[Patrick]

Hello, I changed to vegan recently (less than one month) and I work in a restaurant where almost everything have meat and I am cook in this restaurant. So my question is : Is it okay for a vegan to prepare and cook meat but not eat it? (For the customer who come to the restaurant) It's been a long time since I work there.

[AlexanderVeganTheist]

I think this comes down to your personal reasons for being vegan. My personal reason for being vegan is that I don't want to contribute to animal suffering. I want to minimize my impact on animal suffering. I'm an abolitionist in that regard.

I think being polite and friendly and saying: enjoy your steak sir, contributes to people enjoying animal suffering.

I also don't like the sight and smell of meat. So I wouldn't personally do it.

[Patrick]

I think this comes down to your personal reasons for being vegan. My personal reason for being vegan is that I don't want to contribute to animal suffering. I want to minimize my impact on animal suffering. I'm an abolitionist in that regard.

I think being polite and friendly and saying: enjoy your steak sir, contributes to people enjoying animal suffering.

I also don't like the sight and smell of meat. So I wouldn't personally do it.

I understand you. So people would pay for more animal suffering since they pay for what they eat and there is meat in what they eat. My personal reason for being vegan was to get more healthy but at the same time I don't want to see animal suffering so yeah thank you for answering me.

[brimstoneSalad]

Hi Patrick,

What kind of cook are you? Can you describe your job in more detail? If you have some control over recipes and are not following strict instructions, you might be able to reduce the amount of meat that goes into food, and do good -- reducing the meat in 1,000 dishes a day, for example, would be a big deal.

Generally, the restaurant server has more of an ability to influence what people order. If you were taking orders, you might encourage people to order less meat. But as a cook you probably don't have this ability.

Generally, it's the consumer who bears the bulk of the responsibility for the animal death because they have demanded it, not the cook, or the workers at the slaughter house, because the latter are only doing a job to stay alive.
The only case where this is not true, is if you are a particularly talented and high-demand cook, and could find a job at another restaurant that would, for example, let you cook for a vegan menu. If the kind of job you do is not in high demand, and if you quit the restaurant would easily hire another, your quitting wouldn't make a difference, so it's probably better just to keep working and help where you can.

[Patrick]

Hi Patrick,

What kind of cook are you? Can you describe your job in more detail? If you have some control over recipes and are not following strict instructions, you might be able to reduce the amount of meat that goes into food, and do good -- reducing the meat in 1,000 dishes a day, for example, would be a big deal.

Generally, the restaurant server has more of an ability to influence what people order. If you were taking orders, you might encourage people to order less meat. But as a cook you probably don't have this ability.

Generally, it's the consumer who bears the bulk of the responsibility for the animal death because they have demanded it, not the cook, or the workers at the slaughter house, because the latter are only doing a job to stay alive.
The only case where this is not true, is if you are a particularly talented and high-demand cook, and could find a job at another restaurant that would, for example, let you cook for a vegan menu. If the kind of job you do is not in high demand, and if you quit the restaurant would easily hire another, your quitting wouldn't make a difference, so it's probably better just to keep working and help where you can.

I am normal cook not chef cook, I work in a Vietnamese restaurant and I have no control over recipe. I take order sometimes but it's very rare and
I do it only when the server is busy. Yes, for now it's better to keep working since it's my only job I have no choice so I can't quit except if I find a better place to work and I get more hours there. It's not the job I really want it's just a temporary job until I finish school and get a better job.

[brimstoneSalad]

I suggest you check happycow.net for vegan restaurants nearby; if there are any, you can apply for a job at one. Since you're vegan, if they're looking for somebody, or look for somebody in the future, you will receive preferential hiring.

Otherwise, like you said, just keep at it. Something better will come along eventually.

[Patrick]

I suggest you check happycow.net for vegan restaurants nearby; if there are any, you can apply for a job at one. Since you're vegan, if they're looking for somebody, or look for somebody in the future, you will receive preferential hiring.

Otherwise, like you said, just keep at it. Something better will come along eventually.

Yes and thanks for the website.